Triplecast: No Red, White Or Blue Tape

July 26, 1992|By JIM SARNI, On Television

It`s the big moment of the first big day of Olympic competition: the United States against Angola in basketball.

Tipoff: 10:30 a.m., EDT.

NBC, however, will not be on the air at 10:30 a.m. Its first competition telecast starts at noon today. The United States-Angola game will be shown on tape, probably later in the six-hour telecast, when more of the West Coast viewers are awake.

The Summer Olympics is big business for NBC, which paid $401 million for the rights, and the network, like CBS did with the Winter Olympics, is making smart decisions, based on ratings, not sports sense.

NBC offered viewers Breakfast at Wimbledon earlier this month, but there will be no Spanish omelettes in Barcelona.

The viewers, for once, do not have to be pawns. You can watch the United States-Angola game live today -- on the TripleCast.

A lot of people have been knocking the pay-per-view Olympic television package (Who can watch all that stuff? Who will pay $125 for it? We can`t let pay-per-view get a foothold) but the TripleCast is a welcome alternative for the serious sports fan.

No one is making you buy the thing, but if you want to watch the Olympics live, the window to Barcelona (three windows, actually) is open.

The TripleCast is the best thing to happen to sports television since ESPN and cable television, if you really think about it, and today`s debut is an historic event. I plan to be up at 5 a.m. to christen the Red, White and Blue stations.

If you did not order the TripleCast and have no intention of doing so, you should still sample it. Buy it for a day, find a friend with it or drop by a sports bar that might have it.

Crocco`s, enhancing its reputation as Fort Lauderdale`s best sports place, took the TripleCast.

``It won`t be right if we didn`t have it,`` said Wally Smojver, advertising and marketing director for Crocco`s, located on N. Federal Highway, north of Oakland Park Boulevard.

Crocco`s normally opens at 11:30 a.m., but will open at 10 a.m. today for the basketball game. It`s the place to be for a Barcelona brunch.

Quick-eyed viewers will need to keep their eyes on two screens, since the swimming finals begin at noon on the White Channel. Jenny Thompson is favored to win the first gold medal for the United States in the 100-meter freestyle.

NBC could show the race live at noon on its afternoon show, but it will tape it for the 7:30 p.m. evening show, promising to have the swimmers in the water three or four minutes after taking the air.

NBC`s reason is simple: If it airs the final at noon, when does it show the preliminary heats, which start at 4 a.m.?

NBC has to keep its story in order, but the network telecast is a clock that is six hours slow. Viewers must constantly remember this during the Olympics. What you are seeing already happened -- hours ago. The announcers calling the race are fast asleep.

NBC intends to show one event, and one event only, live, that being the gold- medal basketball game (if the United States gets that far, ha, ha).

If NBC does a good job, the Olympics will not lose much on tape-delay. And the telecasts will be smartly packaged and free-flowing.

But it`s still tape. Tape is not live. It`s not the same.

Thankfully, there will be the TripleCast, for those who want the sensation of being there.

BUT WILL THEY BEAT THE SPREAD?

According to USA Today, Al McGuire predicts Angola won`t score 10 points against the United States, while Dick Vitale says Angola will score 45 or more points... Legendary Lakers announcer Chick Hearn will do the basketball games for the TripleCast; Marv Albert will call the games for NBC... Ahmad Rashad, one of the TripleCast hosts, was mistaken for an athlete and given the royal treatment when he dropped by the Olympic Village this week. Officials rolled out the red carpet and a band began playing before Rashad corrected the mistake.

DREAM THEME MAKES RETURN

NBC`s Olympics will echo ABC`s old coverage with the encore of Bugler`s Dream, ABC`s signature theme song. The piece of music, which does not belong to ABC, has been redone by composer John Williams, who did the music for the 1984 opening ceremonies in Los Angeles (another golden oldie NBC is reviving).

``We don`t think the Olympic Games is a place to premiere a new piece of music,`` said executive producer Terry O`Neil. ``We hope to draw on the evocative nature of music to take people back to a happy place, knowing what a family viewing experience the Olympics often is.``